Hiroki on our minds

What a tough game last night and a hard thing to watch…I’m sure many of you longtime fans had immediate flashback to Kaz Ishii and fortunately, the CT scan came back clear, so hopefully Kuroda will be okay. It’s a scary game and sometimes we can lose sight of that until we’re jarred back to reality.

On a much more positive note, Eric Collins is in town on an ESPN assignment so he hit up a game for the Single-A Inland Empire 66ers and weighed in over at Psychollingy.

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My total disgust for the Idiot, the Incompetent, and the Great Pretenders is boiling over; therefore, I’ll take the liberty of repeating my last post, so it’s available for today’s consumption.

Joe is used to abusing the bullpen, because the Yankees would simply buy him some additional arms when it was needed. He has been asking for pitching every chance he got, but Ned came up with the likes of Milton and Vargas, the possibility of Schmidt coming back. I can believe that the McCheaps don’t have the ready resources to add payroll, and the last thing I want is for them to give up additional good prospects to some team that will carry the payroll for an added arm or two.

I think that Joe is an IDIOT and already retired into the west coast scene; that Ned is totally incompetent, whom other GM’s don’t take seriously – one who can’t even spend the money he’s given with any good sense. But, most of all the McCheaps are the Big Pretender, acting like they know how to own a sports franchise, when they’re really just a couple of social climbers who don’t know the first thing about baseball, except what they observed as Red Sox fans. They’re the biggest stumbling block for the Dodgers, and they will be the big reason why this team of young promise will break up in a couple of years. That will be even harder to take than the collapse of this year’s team.

We may need Plashke around yet, if for no other reason than maybe he can help to drive the McCheaps out of town in the not too distant future. Boston SCUMBAGS.

It is sure refreshing to hear that Kuroda’s injury is not serious and he was released this morning. Now our Boys in Blue better go out today and get a win for our great pitcher Kuroda. Just make sure he gets all the rest he needs because we will need him in the post season.

so does kuroda have a concussion or not? knowing the dodgers and the way they’ve handled injuries in the past and misdiagnosed them, it’s very likely they’re going to be dumb enough to handle kuroda the same way the mets did with ryan church last year. if kuroda does have a concussion, letting him flying back to LA after today’s game is the dumbest, and frankly very dangerous, move they can make. flying in the first 48 hours after after a concussion is dangerous. i only say this because i’ve already read that he could suffer from post-concussion symptons.

McCourt’s culpability is that he keeps hiring the likes of DePo and Ned from the bay area, from which nothing good ever comes in any arena of endeavor.

Fat chance he’ll ever sell the team either, especially only a couple years away from getting those elusive TV rights which will back another 2-3 $40 mil mansions.

Ned never has had the wherewithal to be a GM. From beyond bad FA signings to bottom of the barrel players to the “Ned Premium” other teams impose on him wanting to trade, he just doesn’t have the tools. We lost Lowe and Penny and Maddux and we gained Wolf and Weaver and Milton. Hardly what one would consider a lateral move. Ah but he resigned Manny for 112 games this year and probably another 62 next.

Then there’s JoJo the Fool, who in my opinion is one of the worst field managers in baseball. Burn out a bullpen by the end of July. Play inferior players even though the regulars don’t need rest considering they’re in their 20’s. Write out inane line-ups. Bat his most dynamic player 7th and 8th most of the year. Give more ABs to guys that don’t deserve them rather than ones that do.

Oh but he keeps JP happy – the be all end all of existance.

The great triumvarate…

FIRE JOE.
FIRE THE GUY THAT HIRED JOE.
FIRE THE GUY THAT HIRED THE GUY THAT HIRED JOE.

DD88 — You are correct with the not flying after a concussion.
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I receievd a severe one a number of years ago as well and wasn’t able to fly to LA for a friends wedding. I was warned by the DR that it’s dangerous to do.
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When I read that he was flying with the team my lower jaw hit the floor. I can’t believe that they would be that stupid.
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I’m sorry but every since they Dodgers brought on Conte I’ve been shocked all the time. This takes the cake…
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Again with Torre’s managing there are just 2 things that really bother me is his oveuse of the bully as well as having Matt not batting 4th in the order. I don’t get that. But last night wasn’t his fault. Broxton didn’t get the job done.
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I’m not happy with the lack of getting pitching.
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When one wasn’t picked up in the off-season we were told that it was a tight market and that there was 4 months till the trading deadline and at that point they would know what they needed.
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Well we all knew what was needed and nothing was done. I of course didn’t want all of our young guns traded but after seeing the trades by Philly & Boston, I would think something could of been swung without giving up much.
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Go Blue!!
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Bring the Ring to LA!!!
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I’m thankful Hero is better.
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& Happy Birthday Tru!!! I’m hoping you have a great day!!

Thanks, Collie. I am having a pleasant day so far and am looking forward to a nice dinner with my family tonight. Great post, by the way. I do hope the guys turn things around today and have a pleasant trip home.
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I did like the lineup from last night and wish Joe would keep it for a while, even if James and Russell are playing. They should keep Dre, Manny and Matty batting together and place the others around them.

FIX THIS STINKING BLOG!!!!!
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Good afternoon everyone…….
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I am glad to see Kuroda’s test results were good.
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Manny needs to put some explosiveness, into the offense. The opposing pitchers don’t seem to fear him the way they did earlier in the year.
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The pitching staff looks tired they have very little control on the breaking stuff….Earlier in the year we survived on ground ball outs and wicked movement….Now were getting beat by pitches up and over the plate.
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We expand the roster soon and hopefully will get some relief, until then we need to get our offensive motors running on all cylinders and it starts with the Big Boy!!!
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TAKE IT TO THEM TODAY BOY’S!!!!
BRING THE RING TO L.A. IN 2009!!!!!
NO EXCUSE’S!!!! GET IT DONE!!!!!

Joe’s horrible bullpen management is coming back to get us. Joe continues to stubbornly run Broxton out there and we continue to lose leads! I don’t think Broxton can’t be our closer, I think his toe is bothering him more then he leads on. Ever since this toe injury became public Broxton has been hit or miss (mosty HIT if you catch my drift). Mota is turning back into a pumpkin thanks to overuse, Troncoso is obviously tired he hasn’t had that nasty sinker lately and Belisario is back to being the whipping boy! Someone needs to tell Joe this isn’t 1960! You can’t run guys out there every day or even every other day now all season long. How many times this year have we see Joe use 3 relievers to get 3 outs in a game that was well in hand? We need to call up Lindblom, Elbert and anybody else from the minors to get some fresh arms in the pen and let our main guys get some rest. Broxton needs to be DLd and given the rest of this month off and Sherrill should be the closer. We aren’t going to win a world series with Joe Torre as our manager if he continues his bad management. The Dodgers organization praised him like he was the second coming of Moses who was going to put us on his back and take us to the promise land. But obviously no body realized he hasn’t won ANYTHING since 2000! A lot of it has to do with the Yankees buying All Star teams that weren’t really teams but then again if you have a team full of all-stars you gotta win something right? Joe’s gotta GO. So does Ned. If it wasn’t for Logan White and the scouting departments amazing drafts over the last 5 years this team would be nowhere near the same. Ned would have filled it with washed up veterans and overpaid mediocre players.
I was listening to last nights game on radio and after the Hiro incident the radio station I was listening to cut to commercial while Charlie and Rick were talking…obviously I feared the worst at that time. Hiro really lucked out last night and I hope he makes a speedy return to the mound. I know there were a lot of people thinking about him last night. He has been a big part of our success since his arrival and he was one of Ned’s rare good free agent signings. Of course Ned mostly credited the scouting department for it because well Ned really doesn’t know what he’s doing. I mean he did sign Jason Schimdt even though the Dodgers knew he had an injured shoulder. This team right now is just a big cluster you know what. We obviously aren’t this bad but the cracks are beginning to get bigger and if we don’t patch them this ship will sink. I hate that its in Ned and Joe’s hands.

A very happy b-day, Tru! Hope the team will give you a wonderful present :)
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I don’t know if any of you noticed yesterday when Hiroki went down. Conte did absolutely nothing but watch. There were what appeared to be medical staff attending him and they all had on red shirts. Although shocked and dismayed at what happened, I felt reassured that the best help available at the park was taking care of Hiro.
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Let’s go smash the Snakes, boys! GO DODGERS!!!

Hello
The game last night was one thing and I thought of Kuroda all night and I know I wasn’t alone.
I’m glad he’s been released from the hospital, that’s a good sign.
Last night was like going from the frying pan into the fire.
I just hope we’ve reached rock bottom and there is no other way to go but up.
Wolf, after his last start, is a good guy to have in there to
STOP THE BLEEDING.

Vin says 3500 out of 8500 baseball players are born outside of the U.S. and he mentioned countries including Honduras so I went searching and sure enough there are two in the minor league. Some of you might know I was born in Honduras. i went to school in Honduras.
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So Perumike if you are reading, are there any players from Peru?
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Goodie, Vin said SF already lost and Rockies are being hammered.

For those not listening to Vin.
Vin quotes
“A rose by any other name…” “Petit, well anything but”
” Petit, sounds like an oximoron”
“so the Dodgers are jus teeing off off Petit”
“they are warming Rosales, you would think the horse has left the barn…”

It looks like the Dodgers are having a great day. I am listening more than watching. I heard Andre’s homerun, and then watched the replay. When I heard Randy and homerun in the same sentence I got the impression he gave up a homerun. What a nice surprise that was. Then to hear O-Dog get one too. That’s what this team is capable of, and they should be doing this every game…………get runners on and then some major scoring with RISP. I know it’s early in this game still, but what a great game it is so far. Okay, just checking in, and now I am going back to doing things to get ready for my first day back at school tomorrow. I will check back in a few.

Just a quick hit-and-run for me here because we had a loooooong night here last night, but I want to say three things:

1 – A very happy birthday to trumom! I hope you have a wonderful day with your wonderful family!

2 – Either Joe Torre is a complete idiot or someone forgot to wake him up. Wolf’s breakdown in the 8th is completely and totally his fault. He should have had Wolf sacrifice on his at bat and not swing away. We didn’t need any more runs, we needed him to sit down, rest and wrap his arm. If anyone thinks it’s a coincidence, they’re just fooling themself.

3 – This is gutcheck time for this club. We will now see what it is made of over the next couple of weeks.

It was good to see them come back and have a good game today. Great performances for Andre and Wolf. Wolf has been really solid his last few outings. Too bad Andre had a rough May or he’d be over .300 in batting average for sure. I still think his toe injury from Spring Training was really bothering him during that time. Still a great season for him and the batting average is starting to climb. No offense to any other players that have had bobblehead nights, but what does Andre need to do to get one? The Dodgers really need to start appreciating him before he decides to bail when he gets the chance.

I know it’s kind of late and nobody will probably be around but I do want to thank all of you for Happy Birthday wishes. You are all very important to me and I feel like we are all family.
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I agree with you 100% Bluecrewgirl…….ANDRE ETHIER NEEDS TO HAVE A BOBBLEHEAD DAY!!!!! I would drive all the way down to The Ravine in order to get one!!!!!

Bluecrewgirl – Andre really does deserve a bobblehead. He has done nothing but perform for the Dodgers for the last two seasons, and he has really come into his own moreso this season. I, like many others, appreciated him the minute he became a Dodger. It’s about time management recognizes what an asset he is to this team, both on and off the field. Also, did you get the recent copy of Dodger Magazine? They had an article in there about the players and some of their eating habits. One must for Andre before every game is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, with tuna fish on the side. Andre ~ However bizarre that sounds, keep doing what you are doing because obviously it is working.

Dodgereric – What loooong evening? LOL!!!!! (jk) You and Chris are a saints sometimes you know :)

jhall – I hope you get your connections fixed. We miss you around here.

Oh!!! and just a quick note about trublue’s b-day. Awesome cake my sister had made for her. It had bright pink and black frosting. In one corner it had Mickey Mouse, one corner had purses (I think it’s more like a collection she has more than just buying them to use), another corner had a shopping bag, and, of course, in the 4th corner was a bat and baseball with Dodgers/LA written on both. The gnat and Padres fans in the group were not amused, but they ate it anyway.

BPB ~ I remember the panic I would feel every time Charlie Hough would get the start! Do you think Ausmus or Russell will catch him? It’s not too bad unless runners are on base. Then you have to always think they will automatically take second. Here is hoping for a great start from Haeger. Who knows, maybe he will through Pujols and Holliday off their swing a bit.

Randy Wolf had a homer, double, single and three RBIs on Sunday to beat the Diamondbacks. Wolf was the second pitcher to come up one hit shy of a cycle this season. Carlos Zambrano had a home run, double and single at Arizona on April 28. Wolf was the third Dodgers pitcher to do so since the club moved to Los Angeles, joining Claude Osteen (1970) and Kevin Brown (2002).2002

BPB ~ I’m hoping Joe will finally see the wisdom of keeping Andre, Manny and Matt together in the lineup…..I think we will have the ability to score more runs and make up for our suspect pitching. At the beginning of the season, we were scoring enough runs to hold off whatever the other teams had to offer. I think, Dre, Manny and Matty feed off each other and that is a great thing…..it creates the fire, you want to see in their eyes, BPB.

Never can tell Tru. Always hit and miss with a knuckleballer. If they’re on they’re tough. If not, well…

Even if Charlie does pitch well they still haven’t proven they can beat a good pitcher on a good team. I doubt they get 2-3 runs against Carpenter. Another thing that bothers me is that they can’t build off of a blowout. They haven’t had a good winning streak since the beginning of the year. Sadly, success this week will be if they win 3 games.

Last season right about this time they were just starting to play their best ball. They were gaining ground and ultimately built a lead. This season they’re stagnating and losing ground – not a good trend. Despite their record, IMO this year’s team isn’t as good as last year’s.

Man…BROXTON (booo him) that is 1 too many games he has blown off. He should of won Saturday’s game for Kuroda. Kuroda hard work was wasted. Well enough of BROX…
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Well even if we lost Saturday’s game I am glad KURODA is fine. It was a very scary moment. Hopefully he does not grow fear of Pitching. WISH YOU WELL KURODA!
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Well I am glad we won yesterday. I just think is funny that when the Dodgers are hot, they are all hitting homeruns on the same day. Then the next day…they are all cold and they don’t hit. Man they need to come in an agreement to alternate homerun day to win more game…LOL. ANDRE #24…that’s my boy. WOLF even hit a HOMERUN…wow and almost went for the cycle….WOLF is the PITCHER of the moment….GO WOLF!
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They are home again. All attending tonight’s game…have a wonderful time! GOOOOOO DODGERS!

BPB ~ Joe said during his pre-game interview with Charlie yesterday that Brox is fine….his location is off but his velocity is still up there. So, since, I know you are very smart, BPB, Joe must be an Idiot!

Good morning ITD blogmates!
I remember watching Charlie Hough pitch back when he was with the Dodgers. No matter what, I am looking forward to seeing Charlie Haeger pitch!
Emmahttp://crzblue.mlblogs.com/

What I remember from watching knuckle-ballers pitch, whether it was Hough or Wilhelm or Niekro or just about anyone else, is that IF that ball is moving well, and IF they get that stupid pitch in the strike zone they were effective. If not, they have to come in with the mediocre fastball that made them try the knuckleball in the first place. And that, my friends, is nothing but batting practice.

Here’s another tidbit to make your day, BPB…..Peter Gammons said last night there was a good chance the Dodgers would be signing Smoltz. Of, course, the Cardinals are also interested in him. Cards would probably use him as a BP guy but we would use him as a starter (which John prefers).

BPB ~ Gammons doesn’t think he is as bad as his ERA would suggest…..and, by pitching at Dodger Stadium, he would do pretty good because it is more of a pitchers ballpark. He also thinks dealing with the NL West teams would be pretty easy for him.

All I can say is I am glad it’s lunchtime – LOL!! Really, so far so good for the first day. They all look cute on the first day. I will let you know in a week what they are really like :) I am liking my new room and the set up (much more open and great courtyard view, and I don’t think I can go wrong having the letter E for my students’ lunch line.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. It’s been a great first day so far. Recess and PE, and the first day is in the books. I am loving my baseball wall/center this year. Much bigger, which means room to add more. We officially aren’t starting it until next week, and who is up first………………the dbacks!!! I did get a great picture of Andre walking down to first base looking at Dan Haren after being drilled. You can’t tell by the picture what he said, but those of us that saw it, know exactly what he said.

And a word from the ( Mothership’s House Band ) on what we want to do……………We Want To Rock!!!!!!
.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nYeN5rBGgs
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LETS ROCK THE REDBIRD’S TONIGHT!!!!!
GO DODGERS!!!!
BRING THE RING TO L.A. IN 2009!!!!!

Taking this quote from a Simers article:
“Brad Pitt is currently scheduled to play Beane in a movie, which makes you wonder who would play Colletti, Wally Cox unfortunately no longer with us.”

I think the movie idea mentioned has been put on hold, but it does open for discussion who you would like to see depicting Ned on the big silver screen. My own option would be for Steve Martin doing his best Pink Panther impression. What think you?

Ned is what’s his name from Homer Simpson? …can’t think of his name. Oh yeah, Mr Flanders.
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You all take care now you hear? I will be leaving in about 20 minutes to the stadium. Tomorrow and Wednesday I am meeting with a Cardinal fan friend who is coming with some of her friends.
Emmahttp://crzblue.mlblogs.com

Having read Moneyball I have a hard time getting too worked up over a movie based on this book. It was a good book and I highly recommend it but unless some creative license is taken (would movie makers do that?) I can’t imagine it being very interesting. Beane is portrayed in this book as a highly intensive guy who loves the numbers. He can’t even watch games, prefering to work out while the games are in progress. Can’t wait for that scene.

Like most of you I am not too excited about knuckleballers. Yes, it is fun to watch the ball flutter and hitters look foolish trying to hit it but it is not fun watching catchers trying to catch it. You all know the answer to the question of how to catch a knuckleball, right? You just wait for it to stop rolling and then you pick it up. Hopefully things will go o.k. tonight but the key is still to score some runs.

Hello everyone, getting ready for Dodgers baseball!!! I hope all is well in ITD land.

Great job by Wolf last night and without ruffling too many feathers, Wolf has been our most consistent starter since day one. With any run support he would have 10-12 victories.

As for Broxton, I was watching and thinking as easy as Sherrill shut them down in the 8th, I would have had him start the ninth but hey hindsight is 20/20..

As for the bullpen and the tired arms, Troncoso probably cannot lift is right arm to brush his hair, I like the minor leagues 7 day DL. They should have it in the Majors and rotate their pitchers so they can rest their arms…

So who do we end up with Smoltz or Padilla?I would love to see both..Smoltz in the BP and Padilla in the rotation and if he acts up cut his butt again..We need the depth, Bills hammy and Kuroda, thank God he is recovering well, is a question mark until he puts in a full BP and see how he reacts.

Lets hope Haeger can pull a Hough and give us a good 5-6 innings and hopefully we can reach Carpernter for some runs…I believe he is pitching.

I thought Garko was supposed to help the Giants? Garko in 16 games has 1 extra bases hit and that was a double and putting up numbers like this .204/.304/.245/ .548. Sanchez has help a lot but his number went down also since getting traded to the Giants. Sanchez numbers with the Giants are .288/.315/.365/ .680.

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